


time, time, we're out of time

by scribespirare



Category: Valence (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, Aromantic Nico, Blood and Injury, Canon Compliant, Cuddling, Introspection, M/M, Making Out, Season 2 Episode 2 Spoilers, brief mention of sex, but no actual sex, no happy ending, until canon fixes things anyways
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-25 02:29:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30082107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scribespirare/pseuds/scribespirare
Summary: And it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t fucking matter because Nico can’t stay.
Relationships: Liam Alden/Nico Salvai
Kudos: 2





	time, time, we're out of time

**Author's Note:**

> this might be the second time I've written the first fic for a small podcast and i'm thrilled that its not just pure smut this go around lmao. hope yall enjoy a little bit of (mostly) canon compliant angst!

The worst thing about being shot at besides the, you know, _being shot at_ part and the possibly facing death bit, after all of that shit, is digging the bullet back out again.

It’s not something Nico hasn’t done before, both for himself and for others, but this is the first time he’s let someone else do it for him. There’s next to no blood in Liam’s face, which is fine honestly, there’s enough splattered across Nico for both of them. But his shaking hands and the too-fast breathing are kind of a problem.

“Yo, Vamps, you sure you got this?” he asks, then hisses as it makes Liam jerk a little. “Watchit, c’mon!”

Liam swallows hard and shoots him an apologetic look. “Sorry, sorry. I just, uh-”

“Have never done this before, yeah, I can tell,” Nico sighs, and leans back on his hands. If you factor in the dialogue, the bed, and the fact that Nico is almost naked, this might be the start of a porno. “C’mon big guy, you aren’t gonna hurt me anymore than I’m already hurt.”

Liam’s death-like grip on a pair of tweezers might turn this into a snuff film though. Especially when he takes a deep breath and approaches Nico’s leg with them again. The bullet is lodged in the back of his calf, an awkward place for him to get at on his own, but he wishes desperately that he could do it himself. That he didn’t have to burden Liam with any of this at all.

Pretty soon, that wish is going to be granted.

Liam shoves that thought from his mind though. He doesn’t want to think about leaving, about once again stowing away in the night with nothing but a note left in his wake. It won’t be adequate, it probably never was. But for the first time he really, really cares.

He’s never been in love before. That’s probably the whole aromantic thing, not that he’s ever bothered with those kinds of labels before. It’s always just been him and his errant ways, sleeping around as he sees fit. Not that he sleeps around a ton or anything either, but a guy has needs, and sometimes those needs make other people think he wants something more from them. He never does though, never has, and backs off the moment they start getting too clingy.

Until now.

A piece of Liam’s ponytail has slipped free and is falling across his forehead as he works, ink-dark against pale skin. He’s so expressive when he actually lets his guard down, tongue sticking out between his teeth, and Nico feels his heart skip a beat. Which is a little worrisome considering the physical state he’s in right now, but he’s pretty sure it’s just because Liam is so damn attractive and not because Nico is going into cardiac arrest. And also maybe he has some like, heart feelings or whatever for the knockoff emo.

“Okay, I think I got it,” Liam murmurs, and all of Nico’s thoughts come to a screeching halt at once as the bullet is jostled inside his leg. He hisses and does his best not to tense his calf, knowing from experience that it will only make things worse.

A minute later and Liam is slapping a fresh piece of gauze against Nico’s leg with a shaky sigh, bullet hastily discarded. “Oh my god. I can’t believe I just did that. Please don’t ever ask me to do that again.”

Nico can’t help his laugh or the way he reaches over to ruffle Liam’s hair, already messy from being in bed with it up. God, Nico wishes his night had gone better, that he could have teleported here to find Liam all stretched out and sleepy, slipped under the covers next to him and made them both very happy.

“Well it’s a good thing I don’t have any more bullets stuck in me, isn’t it?” he says instead of any of that, slightly hysterical with pain.

“That’s not funny,” is Liam’s slightly sullen response. “Is there anyway to make you promise _not_ to get shot at anymore?”

“Sorry,Vamps, that’s kind of impossible in my line of work.” Nico says it lightly enough, but the apology is sincere. Liam had seemed surprised enough learning that Nico is going to be taking over now that his old man is dead, but he doesn’t seem to have fully grasped all the fun little details that come along with that. Thankfully.

It means, first and foremost, that more people than ever are going to be trying to murder Nico now.

It means that he’s now responsible for a metric fuck-ton of people.

It means that literally everything about his life, his entire lifestyle, most of his goddamn _identity_ , is about to uprooted and remade. And that includes his relationship with Liam. In fact, that’s the first cord Nico is going to have to cut.

His stomach churns just thinking about it, and the bullet hole in his leg throbs. Nico flops back onto the bed and props himself up with one of the many, many pillows on it. Considering the state of Liam’s apartment just a few months ago, namely that he didn’t own, like, fucking anything, the number of pillows is both surprising and concerning.

“You know they say the more pillows you own, the more depressed you are?” he says idly, grabbing a small square one and holding it to his chest.

Liam frowns down at him. He’d moved at some point to sit on the edge of the bed, torso twisted so he can face Nico. He looks good, especially with the light behind him casting his features into gentle shadow. “Don’t change the subject. Also, rude, I am considerably less depressed now that I own a ton of pillows.”

“Compared to what, when you had one and just laid around like a miserable sack of shit?”

“Yes, but even ruder. I just dug a _bullet_ out of you, how about a little appreciation?”

Nico hikes an eyebrow at him and tosses the pillow in his hands aside. “Oh, need a little appreciation? Shoulda just said so. C’mere.” He opens his arms and gestures for his boyfriend to come closer.

Liam rolls his eyes but shuffles closer regardless, twisting so that he can lay down next to Nico, propped up on his elbow. “Don’t think I’m off the subject of your safety.”

“I’m here right now, aren’t I? Safe and sound,” Nico dodges, and slips one arm around Liam’s neck, the other gripping his shoulder then sliding down to his spine, tugging him closer. “Why are you so far away?”

“Um, because you’re injured and I don’t want to open any of your wounds?” Liam protests. But his free hand skims across Nico’s chest, light as a feather, then cups Nico’s jaw. His palm is warm and a pleasant weight, the kind of touch Nico has always craved but never known how to ask for. Usually he just fucks to get rid of the craving, but it’s different with Liam.

Everything is different with Liam, and god Nico wishes it wasn’t. Wishes this had been a quick fuck, or even a weekend marathon, something to scratch the itch but nothing more. Instead, Liam made this stupid little hole in Nico’s heart, perfectly shaped, and then wedged himself right in there.

And it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t fucking matter because Nico can’t stay.

Nico pulls his boyfriend forward and kisses him soundly to block out the pain in his chest. “I’m not fragile,” he says when he pulls back, and god he loves the glazed look in Liam’s eyes whenever they kiss. The way he goes kind of spacey and distant afterwards, like Nico’s touch just scrambles his fucking brains or something.

“I think all the blood on my carpet might beg to differ,” Liam says when he’s blinked that haziness away. His thumb sweeps along Nico’s jaw, fingers squeezing briefly.

“I told you, it wasn’t all mine. Can we make out now?”

“Romantic,” Liam deadpans, but his mouth curls up on one side and he leans in for another kiss anyways. It’s longer this time, and decidedly more drawn out. Nico tends to be a rough and fast kind of guy, but Liam is slower, more exploratory. Surprisingly, Nico actually kind of likes it. He slides his hand down Liam’s back and then slips it up under his shirt, palming at bare skin. The move makes Liam sigh into their kiss, body shifting a little closer.

For better or worse though, Nico really is in no shape to go much further. After a few minutes he’s short of breath and there are black dots dancing behind his eyelids. He pulls away with a small gasp and has to take a moment to recover.

Unlike all of Nico’s other relationships, if they can be called such, he and Liam didn’t fall into bed together shortly after meeting. They make out like teenagers sure, and do emotional shit like cuddling and watching movies together. But no fucking.

And that’s not going to change tonight. Nico simply isn’t up for much after losing that much blood, and he can already feel his mind urging him to sleep now that he’s horizontal and no longer in mortal peril. Adrenaline is a helluva drug but it sure does make you crash hard.

On the one hand, he’s kind of glad they won’t get to have sex. To take that step the very night when he knows he’s going to leave Liam, once and for all…it feels cruel.

But on the other hand he can’t help but mourn. He’ll never know what Liam looks like under all those stupidly dark clothes, how his hair fans across the sheets, what he sounds like when Nico goes down on him, fucks him, makes him come. How pretty he must be flushed with pleasure and letting himself go.

“You good?” Liam asks, and fuck he’s just so goddamn attractive. All big, dark eyes and that long hair falling across his face, narrow lips, pale skin that contrasts so nicely against Nico’s dark.

“Yeah,” Nico breathes. “All the fighting for my life and shit is starting to catch up to me. I think I’m gonna pass out now.”

The words leave his lips almost moments before his body forcibly pushes him under. He slumps back into the pillows, and the last thing he sees is Liam leaning over him, fondly amused, slightly concerned. Nico wants to sear it into his mind forever but his eyes flutter closed of their own accord.

In a few hours he’s going to have to steal away in the middle of the night. But for now he drifts off to sleep, barely feeling the way Liam lays down next to him, head on Nico’s chest. 

**Author's Note:**

> come talk podcasts w/ me on [tumblr](https://scribespirare.tumblr.com/)!


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